A summarized description of the temples of village Gods of Tamil Nadu and those deities who rule the minds of the simple people living there by P.R.Ramachander

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Kattu Chelliamman Kovil

Kattu Chelliamman
Kovil

Compiled by

P.R.Ramachander

The Kattu Chelli
Amman temple is situated
in the middle of the forest below a Herb Pandal. It Is believed that after
Kaliamman killed Darukasura , the anger
which she had at that time became a small baby. Feeling that this personification
of anger is dangerous to the world Lord Shiva
took her in to his body and made that baby as the part of his body. Kaliamman was enraged and there was a dance competition
between Kaliamman and Lord Shiva.
Kaliamman was defeated and the
very sad Kaliamman went to the forest
near a village called Chengarai which is
near Gunmmidi poondi town and started living there in
the deep forest in the shade of trees. She also hid her form within an ant hill. I could find two stories
connecting this Goddess with the
British army people who used to
camp there.

I .Once the British soldierswere chasing a deer in the
forest. It went and hid itself in a bush in the forest,. The soldiers tried to
clear the bush but they encountered a black Cobra there which went and hid
itself in an anthill near by .The
Soldiers then started breaking the
anthill and saw an idol of the Goddess there. At that time the Goddess entered
in to a lady and she told those soldiers that the goddess was Chelliamman. She was greatly allergic to sound produced by
mortar and pestle, crying of babies and
that is why she was living in the
forest.

2,Once a british captain who was camping near the forest
sawed and bright light coming out from a
forest bush at night. When he enquired about it with the chief of Village , he
told him that a Goddess was residing there.. That night when he was deep asleep
he heard the jingling of anklets and could smell the burning of camphor. Disturbed by this that
captain came out of his tent. After some time when he tried to reenter his tent a black Cobra came to attack him but some upknown unseeable power hit the cobra
on its head and it died, Next day the
villagers told him that he was Saved
by Kattu Chelliamman only They took him to the forest , prepared pongal
and worshipped the Goddess. But the captain was not able believe in that
Goddess nor could he believe that She was wandering at night. On the way his
hose threw him down ,his body was covered with sweat and there was great pain
in his chest. The villagers sprinkled the holy water of the temple on his face
, made him hold the lemon brought from the temple and put some pongal offered to the Goddess in his mouth .The captain
became normal and went next day and worshipped the Goddess .

The fame of Kattu
Chelliamman spread and the people wanted to build a temple for her in the nearby village . She through a lady
told them that she is allergic to sound of mortar and the sound of crying of
babies. They could bring her up to a pond called Alangulam but since they were not able to fulfill her
conditions Chelliamman went back to her
anthill. Once again the villagers went and asked her permission to build a
temple for her .They slowly started removing the mud from the anthill and she rose from there as an idol with a flame crown , Soola , skull on the top hands , The other two hands signifying calling them arose from the
anthill There were two Ganesa idols with her. The temple is open from 6 Am
to 6 Pm. Nobody is allowed to worship her after 6 PM Since she first appeared on a Thursday , Thursdays are important days at the temple
and large number of devotees come to see her on that day. On the first date of
Chithirai month(April 15th or 16th) , Vadai garland is offered to the Goddess. Barren couple
visit the temple 9 or 11 times in that many weeks and are blessed with children.
Most of these shildren are called
Chellan, Chelli, Chellayi etc Those who are not able to get married tie a cloth
on the nearby tree. People who want to
silence their enemies put a lock at
the temple. Ladies also present bangles
in 11 or 51 or 101 numbers to get
themselves married.